Time card



(No Model.) '1 Sheets-Sheet 1. H. ABBOTT. APPARATUS FOR RECORDINGMEASUREMENTS OF TIME, SPACE, 0R

' QUANTITY.

No 449,192. Patented Mar. 81, 1891.

(No Model.) 7 SheetsSheet '2. H. ABBOTT. APPARATUS FOR RECORDINGMEASUREMENTS 01? TIME, SPACE, 0R

QUANTITY.

No. 449,192. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

(No Model.) 7 Sheets-Sheet 3.

H ABBOTT.

APPARATUS EOE RECORDING MEASUREMENTS 01" TIME, SPACE, OR A QUANTITY. No.449,192. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

(No Model.) 7 Sheets-Sheet 4.

H. ABBOTT. APPARATUS EOE RECORDING MEASUREMENTS OF TIME, SPACE, ORQUANTITY.

No. 449,192. @%7Pa.tented Mar. 31, 1891.

7 Sheets-Sheet 5.

(N0 Mode1.-)

H. ABBOTT. APPARATUS FOR RECORDING MEASUREMENTS OF TIME, SPACE, 0R

QUANTITY.

No. 449,192. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

(No Model.) 7 Sheets-Sheet 6. H. ABBOTT. APPARATUS FOR RECORDINGMEASUREMENTS OF TIME, SPACE, 0R QUANTITY. No. 449,192. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

(No Model.) 7 Sheets-Sheet 7.

RABBOTT.

APPARATUS FOR RECORDING MEASUREMENTS OF TIME, SPACE, 0R QUANTITY.

No. 449,192. @y -Patented Mar. 31, 1891.

I. A. NON,

No. I2 BROADWA Y.

NEW YORK.

2 TIME CARD.

7601! 77m: //oarJ M/ mtes.

No. :2 BROADWAY,

Z NEW YORK.

1211MB CARD. Ow 1:11:11; W

,% 6. wa /i4 odwwu n4: warms rz'nzns ccL. moTo-uwm, WASHWGYDN, u. c.

UNITED STATES- PATFNT OFFICE.

HENRY ABBOTT, OF NEVARK, NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR RECORDING MEASUREMENTS OF TIME, SPACE, OR QUANTITY.

SPECEFICATIQN forming part of Letters Fatent No. 449,192, dated lrIarCh31, 1891.

Application filed November 21, 1888. Renewed September 2, 1890. SerialNo. 363,749. (No model.)

To all whom, it rim y colic-crib.-

Be it known that I, HENRY ABBOTT, of Newark,in the county of Essex, andin the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for Becording Measurements of Time, Space, orQuantity; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear,and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure l is a perspective viewof my instrument asarranged for use. Fig. 2 is a like view of the same with the housing ofthe printing-dials removed. Fig. 3 is a perspec tive view of myinstrument from the lower side when locked against intrusion. Fig. 4c isa like view of the casing with the bottom plate removed. Fig. 5 is aperspective view of said bottom plate from the upper side. Fig. 0 is alike view from the lower side of the mechanism separated from thecasing. Fig. 7 is a plan view of said mechanism from the lower side.Fig. 8 is a like view of the same from the upper side. Fig. 9 is anelevation of said mechanism from the end containing the printingdevices. Figs. 10 and 11 are elevations of opposite. sides of the same.Fig. 12 is a vertical section upon lines 03 a; of Figs. 7 and 8. Fig. 13is an enlarged perspective view of an arrow-printing die and of aminutes-printing die separated from each other. Fig. H is alike view ofthe springwheel connection between the time-train and the printingmechanism, the parts being separated from each other. Fig. 15 is avertical section of the same when united. Fig. 16 is a plan view of theface of a time-card when ready for use. Figs. 17 and 18are like views ofthe rear face of the same when stamped for commencement of work duringthe forenoon and its close at noon. Figs. 19 and 20 are plan views ofthe rear face of said card when stamped at the commencement and close ofthe afternoon work, and Fig. 21 is a like view of the front face of saidcard after the time worked during the day has been filled in.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of thefigures.

The object of my invention is to enable the time intervening between anytwo periods to be easily and accurately determined without requiring theemployment of skilled assistance; to which end my said inventionconsists principally in an apparatus constructed and adapted to operatein the manner and for the purpose substantially as hereinafter shown.

It consists, further, in details of construction, substantially as andfor the purpose hereinafter set forth.

In the carrying of my invention into pracrice I employ for tireoperative mechanism a casing which is composed of an annular body A,that is preferably constructed from wood,

a top plate 13, that is superimposed upon and incloses the upper openside of the body, and a bottom plate which is fitted into and containedwithin a rabbet a, that is provided within the lower side of said body.The top plate B is secured in place by means of screws D D, &c., whichpass upward through the body A and have their upper threaded endscontained within correspondinglythreaded holes in said top plate and areonly accessible from within the rabbet a, while to hold the bottom plate0 in place there is provided a lug c, that extends upwardinto theinterior of said body and engages with a pin a, which projects radiallyinward from the latter, and a lock E, that is located opposite to saidlug and is adapted to engage with a keeper a which is secured upon saidbody. As thus constructed and combined, access to the interior of thecasing can only be had through the bottom, so that by employing a lockthat is not easily picked unauthorized manipulation ofthe mechanism tobe placed within said casing is prevented unless some of its parts arebroken.

iVithin the top plate B at one side isprovided a circular opening Z),which extends entirely through the same, is glazed, and contains thedial F and handsf and f of a timetrain G, which t rain has any usualform, is secured upon the lower face of said plate, and is adapted to bewound and to have its hands set from the lower side, and then'only whenthe bottom plate has been removed.

Within the plate 13, opposite to the dialopening I), are provided twocircular recesses l) and b which have the same diameters, are locatedclose together, and extend about one half way through said plate. Therecess 17 contains a cylindrical block it, which loosely fills the same,and upon its upper face is provided with a series of raised numerals orcharacters h and marks h, that are arran ed in annular form andcorrespond i number and relative location to the marks for indicatinghours and minutes, respectively, upon aclockdial. From the lower side ofsaid block or die a hollow arbor k extends downward through said plateB, and at a point below the latter is provided with a toothed wheel h t.

Said recess b also contains a printing-die, which die I is preciselylike the die H, except that in place of characters to represent hoursthere are provided figures t and marks 2', which divide thecircumference of said die into sixty equal spaces, each of whichcorresponds to a minute of time. I

The dies H and I are each provided with a centrally-located recess 7 and '5 respectively, in which is loosely fitted a correspondinglyshapeddie K or L, that carries upon its face a raised arrow is or Z, andwithin the body of such arrow has the word hours or minutes. Each ofsaid dies K and L is provided with an arbor k. or Z, that extendsdownward through the hollow arbor h or i and through a plate .M, whichis secured upon or forms an extension of the back plate of thetime-movement. Each of said dies K and L is provided upon its lower sidewith a pin 10 or Z that extends into a corresponding hole'in theadjacent die H or I and operates to connect it with the latterrotatively with the point of its arrow at zero, while permitting ofindependent movement in a line with its axis.

J ournaled between the arbors 7L2 and 2' within the plates 13 and M isan arbor N, which is provided with a wheel a, that meshes with andreceives motion from one of the wheels of the time-train, a pinion n,which meshes with the wheel 71 0f said arbor h and a wheel if, thatmeshes with a pinion 2' upon said arbor 2' the arrangement and relativeproportions of said wheels and pinions being such as to cause said shaftk and its die H to make one complete revolution in twelve hours and saidarbor Z and its die I to make a complete revolution in one hour.

The dies described are to operate by being moved upward against a card,and in order that such card may be properly support-ed there is securedupon the plate B a housing P, that extends over said dies and containswithin its lower face a block of" rubber p or other suitable material,which operates as a platen and receives the blow of said dies. Saidplaten has a suitable elevation above said dies, and at one end and infront of the same said housing is removed to permit of the insertion ofa card. Said housingis secured in place by means of screws, which passupward through said top plate B. Y

For the purpose of moving the dies H and I upward thefollowing-described mechanism is employed, viz; Spanning the arbors Z,and N is a yoke Q, which is adapted to slide freely thereon in avertical direction, and

when moved upward engages with the lower ends of the hollow arbors Z1and i and carries the same with their dies in the same direction. Uponthe lower side at the longitudinal center of said yoke is a hub q, withwhich engages the forked end 0 of a lever R, that from thence extendsout-ward and is centrally pivoted within a fixed bearing 0*. A secondlever S is pivoted at one end Within a fixed bearing 3, and from thenceextends at a right angle over the outer end of the lever R.

and has its opposite end pivoted to the lower end of a plunger T, whichplunger from thence extends upward through the top plate B and atitsupper end is provided with a flat knob t, which is adapted to receive ablow from the hand ofan operator. The plunger is held with yieldingpressure at the upper limit of its motion by means of a spring 8 thatextends between the end of the lever S and the top plate B, while by theaction of a spring n that is placed between-thewheel n and the upperside of the yoke Q, the latter, with the dies H and I,-is kept at thelower limit of its motion, and the outer end of the lever R is held witha yielding pressure upward against the lever S. As thus arranged it willbe seen that by pressing downward upon the knob '25 the said dies H andI will be moved upward, and when said knob is released'from suchpressure said parts willv automatically return to their normal posi--t-ions. The dies K and L are moved by two levers and a plunger R, S, andT, which are counterparts of the parts R, S, and T; but

' raised at will.

Ink for printing is supplied by a ribbon V, which is wound upon spools\V and W, that are journaled upon the lower face of the plate B, andfrom such spools pass upward through suitable slots 12 and b in saidplate, and from thence across the dies, said ribbon above said top platebeing entirely covered by the housing P. In order that when a card isinserted beneath the platen it may be prevented from being smeared by orentangled with said ribbon, a metal strip b is secured upon said plate Bjust in frontof said dies, where it furnishes a bearing for the card andholds the same above said ribbon.

The inking-ribbon V is moved longitudinally by means of two spring-pawlsX and X, one of which is attached to and moves with each plunger andengages with a ratchetwheelw, that is secured upon the end of each spoolXV. Each pawl is arranged to engage with and partially rotate its spoolupon the upward movement of the plunger; but before said plunger reachesthe upper limit of its motion the end of said pawl passes out ofengagement with the teeth of its ratchet, and only the smooth side ofthe former bears upon the latter and offers no resistance to a move mentof said spool in an opposite direction. A flat spring Y, secured uponthe top plate B, having its side in contact under pressure with each ofsaid ratchet'wheels, operates as a brake and prevents the ribbon frombecoming slack.

As the printing-dies are rotated by the time-train, the accidental ormalicious stoppage of either of such dies would be liable to stop theclock. To prevent such mischance, the wheel a of the arbor N is looselyjournaled upon the latter and is connected therewith b means of acoiledspring at, which has one of its ends connected with said arbor and itsopposite end connected with said wheel. Said spring at has suificientstrength to drive its arbor and the die-arbors, but not sufficient tointerfere with the movement of the time-train, so that in the event ofthe stoppage of either of said dies said time-train would keep up itsmovement and simply wind up said spring at", and as soon as the troublewas discovered or ceased the dies when released would be rotated untilthey reached the positions they would have occupied had no obstructionoccurred. The length of the safety-spring will determine the length oftime that the dies can be obstructed without stopping the timetrain, andof course can be varied at will.

The apparatus is now complete, and is used as follows, viz: \Vhen anoperative goes on duty-as, for instance, at 9.30 a. m.he presents a cardZ, upon the face of which are written his name and the date, and uponthe back is divided centrally and the divisions marked A. M. and P. 31.,respectively. This card is placed in position for stamping with theproper division of its back over the printing-dies, after which theplunger T is pressed downward, so as to print upon the A. 31. section ofsaid card two diagrams a: and .1;, which are respectively fac-similes ofthe hours and minutes series of figures, as shown in Fig. 17. It, as isusual, work is suspended at noon, the operative presents his card to thetime-keeper,whoreplaces it within the stamp in the position it beforeoccupied, and pressing downward the plunger T prints within the diagramsto and 0; impressions of the hours and minutes arrows, of which thepoint of the former is located midway between the figures 2 ant 3 of thehours-diagram a, and the point of the minutes-arrow is in juxtapositionwith the figure 30 of the minutes-diagram or, and shows that saidoperative has worked two and one half hours. At one oclock, when work isresumed, the operative again presents his card, and within the I. M.section of the same are stamped the hours and minutes diagrams .r and0;, respectively, as

shown in Fig. 19, and when he quits work say at 5. 1Ohis ticket isreplaced and stamped with the arrows, the hours arrow-point beinglocated between the figures 4 and 5 of the hours-diagram a, and theminutes arrow-point being in juxtaposition with the figure of theminutes-diagram m, as seen in Fig. 20, which shows that the afternoonswork covers four hours and forty minutes. The timekeeper now adds thetime indicated by the A. M. and P. M. diagrams and inserts thetotalseven hours and ten min utes-within the blank spaces provided uponthe face of the card, as seen in Fig. 21, which card is then ready forthe paymaster, and, when paid, becomes his voucher for the payment made.The data furnished by the card is equally plain to the operative and tothe paymaster, and is all that is necessary for the settlement of thewages due the former. As the record is produced by accurate mechanism,its cor rectness is beyond question and no differences can arise betweenemploye and employer as to the amount of time to be paid for.

This apparatus is useful wherever it is de sired to make a record offractions of a day as, for instance, in case of longshoremen and otherworkmen who work at irregular periods and are paid by thehour; formesseugerservice, where the charges to customers are by the hour; inbilliard-saloons,when the charges are governed by the time tables areused; in factories, where it is desired to know the time consumed byoperatives in doing any particular piece of work; in the running of:trains; in chemical, photographic, scientific, and experi mentaloperations, &c., and it can be operated by a boy or by any person whohas sufficient intelligence to place the card in position and to pressdown the proper plunger;

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a machine formeasuring intervals, a rotatable dial provided upon its face with aseries of progressive characters and an independently-moving point-er,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a machine for measuring and recording intervals, the combinationof a rotatable die that is provided with a series of progressiveprinting characters and a pointer, and mechanism whereby said charactersand pointer may be separately printed upon acard or ticket,substantially as and for the purpose shown.

3. In a machine for measuring and record ing intervals of time, thecombination of a rotatable priutingdie that is provided with an annularseries of progressive numeraltype, a second die which is combinedrotatively with the numeral-type die and is provided with a pointer-typethat is in juxtaposition with the zero-type of the series, a timetrainthat is adapted to rotate said dies with a predetermined veloeity,andmechanisms, substantially as described, which are adapted to move saiddies separately against a suitablysupported ticket, substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

4. In a machine for measuring and recording intervals of time, thecombination of two rotatable printing-dies, each of which is providedwith an annular series of progressive numeral-type and contains a seconddie that is combined therewith rotatively and has a pointer-type that isin juxtaposition with the zero-numeral of the series, a time-train whichis adapted to rotate said dies with different relative velocities, amechanism, substantially as described, that is adapted to simultaneouslyraise said numeral-dies against a suitablysupported ticket, and anothermechanism,

, substantially as described, which is adapted to simultaneously andindependently raise said pointer-dies against such ticket, substantiallyas and for the purpose shown.

5. In a machine for measuring and recording intervals of time, thecombination of a rotatable printing-die that is provided with an annularseries of progressive numeraltype, a second die which is containedwithin 7 and combined rotatively with the numeraltype die and isprovided with a pointer-type that is in juxtaposition with the zero-typeof the series, a time-train that is adapted to lo tate said dies with apredetermined velocity, mechanisms, substantially as described,which areadapted to, move said dies separately against a ticket, and a yieldingbacking or bed for such ticket, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

6. In a machine for measuring and recording intervals of time, thecombination of two rotatable printing-dies, each of which is providedwith an annular series of progressive numeral-type and contains a seconddie that is combined therewith rotatively and has a pointer-type that isin juxtaposition with the zero-numeral of the series,a time-train whichis adapted to rotate said dies with different relative velocities, amechanism, substantially as described, that is adapted to simultaneouslyraise said numeral-dies against a suitably-supported ticket, a secondmechanism.

which is adapted to simultaneously and independently raise saidpointer-dies against suchticket, and a yielding backing or bed forthelatter, substantially as and for the purpose shown and described.

7. In a machine for measuring and recording intervals of time, thecombination of a rotatable printing-die that is provided with an annularseries of progressive numeraltype, a second die which is containedwithin and combined relatively with the numeraltype die and is providedwith a pointer-type that is in juxtaposition with the zero-type of theseries, a time-train that is adapted to rotate said dies with apredetermined velocity, mechanisms which are adapted to move said diesseparately against a ticket, a mechanism that is adapted to form abacking or bed for such ticket, and an automatically-movable inkedribbon which is interposed between said dies and ticket, substantiallyas and for the purpose specified.

8. In a machine for measuring and recording intervals of time, thecombination of two rotatable printing-dies, each of which is pro videdwith an annular series of progressive numeral-type and contains a seconddie that is combined therewith rotatively and has a pointer-type that isin juxtaposition with the zero-numeral of the series, a time-train whichis adapted to rotate said dies with different relative velocities, amechanism that is adapted to simultaneously raise said numeral-diesagainst a suitably-supported ticket, a second mechanism which is adaptedto simultaneously and independently raise said pointerdies against suchticket, a mechanism that is adapted to form abacking or bed for thesame, and an inked ribbon which is interposed between said dies andticket, substantially as and for the purpose shown.

9. In a machine'for measuring and recording intervals of time, thecombination, in a housing for inelosing the operative parts thereof, ofa hollow body, a top plate to which said operative parts are secured andby which they are supported, said plate being secured to said body byfastenings placed in or removed from position from within the body, anda bottom consisting of a removable plate, which, when inplace, may besecured to the body by means of a lock, substantially as and for thepurpose shown,

10. In a machine for measuring and recording intervals of time, thecombination, in a housing for inelosing the operative parts thereof, ofan annular body provided with a rabbet in its lower side, a top plate towhich said operative parts are secured and by which they are supported,said plate being secured to said body by fastenings placed in or removedfrom position from within the body, and a bottom consisting of a platethat may be contain ed within the rabbet in the lower side of theannular body and secured therein by means of a lock, substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

11. In a ribbon-stamp, in combination with an inked ribbon, a stationarybearing-strip which is arranged upon the top plate adjacent to the diesand operates to support a card or ticket above and hold the same out ofcontact with the face of said ribbon while being placed in or removedfrom position for stamping, substantially as and for the purpose shownand described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this25th day of October, 1888.

HENRY ABBOTT.

, Witnesses:

J OHN E. EUSTIS, HENRY G. SCHULTZ.

IIO

